How to use this Page

Well, our first TitleWave event at BookStream was a smashing success. I'm working on writing up the press release now, but I can tell you informally here that the whole thing was awesome. Around 30 booksellers, plus sales reps and other folks, were in attendance. Our three authors -- Richard Price, Steve Toltz, and Hillary Jordan -- were each completely compelling in different ways. And Ken Abramson did a bang-up job of presenting his "pick of the lists" for great literary fiction and nonfiction from all publishers for the spring and summer seasons. You'll be hearing more about it from me and Carolyn Bennett in the days to come. If you're a bookseller who was there, I'd particularly love to hear from you! Thanks to everyone who made this possible, and who attended and enjoyed. On to the next event!

This morning I'm scrambling, along with my BookStream colleagues, to pull together the final details for our fabulous TitleWave event this Wednesday, February 27, in Hartford, CT. If somehow you've failed to hear all about it, here's what several dozen lucky booksellers have to look forward to:

10:00-10:15 arrive at the Sheraton East Hartford (free parking! TitleWave is in the Junior Ballroom)

10:15-10:30 introduction by BookStream CEO Jack Herr

10:30-11:00 Pick of the spring lists by sales rep extraordinaire Ken Abramson

11:00-11:30 Picks from the rest of the BookStream staff, presented by Carolyn Bennett and Jessica Stockton Bagnulo

11:30-12:00 Pick of the summer lists by Ken Abramson

12:00-12:30 Presentation by Richard Price, author of Lush Life (Farrar, Straus, Giroux)

12:30-12:45 short break for book signing & galley pickup

12:45-1:30 Lunch

1:30-2:00 Presentation by Steve Toltz, author of A Fraction of the Whole (Spiegel & Grau)

2:00-2:30 Presentation by Hillary Jordan, author of Mudbound (Algonquin)

2:30-2:45 short break for book signing and galley pickup

2:45-3:45 Bookseller picks of the list: the best of what YOU’VE been reading!

3:45-4:00 Closing remarks & evaluations

The momentum is building for TitleWave, the awesome (free!) event for booksellers I've been helping to put together at BookStream!

Bookselling This Week has a nice writeup of the event...

Today's Shelf Awareness mentions TitleWave (though I can't seem to link to today's issue in the archive yet)...

And Megan at Bookdwarf gives it a mention as well...

For myself, I spent the last week missing subway stops reading Mudbound by Hillary Jordan, one of the authors who will be speaking at TitleWave. I was trying to explain to myself its addictive appeal -- it's not unusual structurally or formally, and the setup is almost Greek or Shakespearean in its simplicity: struggling farm, stoic husband, unhappy wife, charming brother, plus nasty racist father, plus bright black WWII vet, plus resourceful midwife and preacher husband, and a big storm on the way. But I couldn't put it down, nor predict just what would happen. Jordan writes effectively in every voice (except the father's, thankfully) and builds her story so carefully but so inevitably that you're panting for more.

I know Carolyn at BookStream is a huge fan too (see today's BookStream Current), and Jordan was buzzed about at Winter Institute. Don't miss your chance to hear her speak and share lunch with her.

And if that's not enough, you'll also have the chance to meet Steve Toltz, the Australian author of Fraction of the Whole (an early offering for brilliant upstart Random House imprint Spiegel & Grau), and the inimitable Richard Price (Clockers, anyone?), whose new novel Lush Life brings him back to a gentrifying New York City (the ALP gives that one his stamp of approval).

And if that's not enough, you also get to hear the one and only Ken Abramson, sales rep extraordinaire, talk up the very best titles coming out this February to June. And Carolyn Bennett and yours truly talking about the pop culture side of the things. AND more galleys than you can shake a stick at, plus bags to carry them home. AND free lunch. AND free parking. Honestly, what more could you ask?

It's all happening February 27 in Hartford, Connecticut -- it's free to any bookseller, but you do have to RSVP (and space is limited!). Click the links to email me or email Carolyn or email Ken for more info or to sign up. Hope to see you there!

No link madness today, folks. Instead, as promised, here's the big news:

On Sunday night at NAIBA, I sat in the hotel bar with Jack Herr, the president of BookStream, and my friend Carolyn Bennett, a BookStream sales rep, and hammered out the details of an arrangement that had been in the air for a while, by which this independent bookseller will become an employee of the independent wholesaler.

So what does this mean, and why am I doing it?

It doesn’t mean I'm leaving the bookstore.
It doesn’t mean I'm leaving Brooklyn.
It doesn't mean I've abandoned my dream of having my own store, or that I'm selling out on my indie ideology. In fact, it's a way to get a little closer to the dream, and a way to work and learn and connect more with the indie bookstore community.

First, just in case you don't work in the book industry or you're not familiar with this particular company, let's talk about book wholesalers. In addition to ordering books directly from publishers, bookstores have the option of ordering books from "middle men" or distribution organizations: wholesalers. Since the wholesalers have to make a profit, they usually sell books at a smaller discount than you'd get from the publisher. The advantages, however, are that 1) they ship faster than publishers do, so you can get that hot title in your store sooner; 2) they carry books from publishers you may not have (or want to have) an account with, so you can minimize paperwork. Most "special order" books will be ordered through a wholesaler, so that stores can get it into customers' hands more quickly. There are a number of these guys; Ingram is the biggest, and there's also Bookazine and Baker & Taylor. (There used to be others in our region: Koen, which closed and then reopened as Koen-Levy, then closed again.) BookStream is a regional wholesaler, serving primarily New England and the mid-Atlantic region. and they're kind of the new kid on the block in this field – they opened only a couple of years ago, in late 2005.

And one of the things that I love about this company is that they opened in spite of a certain amount of naysaying – the same sad head-shaking that too often accompanies the opening of an independent bookstore – and they're making good in spite of it, too. With the collapse of Koen, the prevailing wisdom was that there was no future for another regional wholesaler. How could they possibly compete with the big guys? CEO Jack Herr's answer was: by working better with independents – in the words of the company motto, "leveling the playing field." Unlike many wholesalers, BookStream offers the same discount – 42% -- to every store, no matter how large or small the account. They've developed customer service that offers a level of personal relationships akin to the best bookstores. And they're constantly working to expand and perfect their systems, their service, their relationships, their shipping time, their efficiency – all of the stuff that makes a wholesaler valuable to booksellers. Like the successful bookstores I know, they're continually refining their business model and their operations to build on their previous successes, and to adapt to the needs of their customers.

Or, as I should say now, "our customers." Because, as Jack and Carolyn and Carol and Felice and Ken warmly tell me, I'm now a part of the BookStream project.

And what's a nerdy bookseller like me going to do there, you justifiably ask? Part of the company's efforts to do the best it can for booksellers involves expanding its web presence, creating content and connections using some of the tools I've been talking up on bookseller panels – blogs, social networking, interactive websites, etc. My job, while pretty open-ended, will involve developing some of this content, as well as potentially working on events, marketing, and other PR-ish stuff. In the words of my official employment offer:

"creating online resources for the company’s prospective bookselling customers and publishing clients… design, plan, and execute events and other marketing programs… assist BookStream to develop an integrated portfolio of programs and resources for our customers and publishing clients which simultaneously create advantage for them and set us apart from other wholesalers. "

Sounds pretty sophisticated, huh? But really what it translates to is a lot of what I'm doing now: reading and researching about developments in the book industry, connecting readers and authors, meeting booksellers and learning from them, waxing enthusiastic about the future of independent bookselling, and blogging – all of that fun good geeky stuff that I'm currently doing for free. I'll just be doing it in a somewhat more focused way, and getting paid for it.

Which is why I think I can actually do this in my spare time, around my full-time job at the bookstore. I'll be working primarily from home, and visiting the BookStream facility in Poughkeepsie once or twice a month. Sarah, the best bookstore boss in the world, tells me I may be able to make my store hours a little more flexible to accommodate this (and incidentally, believes there to be no conflict of interest in working for both a bookstore and a wholesaler, especially since I don't do the buying.)

But why?, you ask again. Aren't you busy enough? Well, yeah. And I may have to give up (or cut back on) one or two things to make this work (though I'm not abandoning Emerging Leaders, the NAIBA board, the Litblog Co-Op or anything else just yet).

Part of the reason for doing this is financial: so that the ALP and I can start to save up a little nest egg to help finance my store, and maybe even to buy our own place at some point. In terms of scheduling and pay scale, it beats the heck out of freelancing.

But I wouldn't bother to sign on if this wasn't a project I was interested in, ideologically, creatively, and practically. I'm a huge fan of BookStream's commitment to independent bookstores, and I think its forward-thinking leap into the world of Web 2.0 is both admirable and astute. I'm looking forward to learning more about the interactions of publishers, wholesalers, and bookstores, and bringing a new perspective that will help to make those interactions better. I'm excited about working with the independent bookstore community on a kind of macro scale, getting a bird's-eye view of what's going on in our region. And of course, I'm giddy to put to the test some of my ideas about how the web can serve the world of print media, and to learn, perhaps by trial and error, how providing "added value" can help a book company's bottom line.

And, probably most importantly for satisfaction in any job, I like the people. One of BookStream's selling points on its website is "Staffed by the best people in book wholesaling". Like the best bookstores (and unlike a lot of larger companies), they understand that the company is only as good and as functional and as happy as the people in it. Carolyn, of course, is one of my favorite people in the industry, a real fellow book nerd. Ken Abramson (whom we always just called "Ken from Koen" when I worked at Three Lives) is incredibly knowledgeable and hilarious. Jack Herr is one of the most optimistic, practical, smart, ambitious, and supportive people I've ever met – his enthusiasm for his project, and for the bookselling community, is infectious, and I'm looking forward to working with him. And I'm looking forward to meeting the other employees, some of whom have already sent me the nicest welcoming emails. Obviously, it's a good place to work, which to me suggest the potential for a very successful company.

I may have a little less time for this blog in the coming months, but I imagine you'll be able to find my over-enthusiasm elsewhere on the web. I'll keep you posted. I start officially as a BookStream employee the first week of November. I'm looking forward to talking to booksellers, publishers, authors, critic, and readers in my new capacity as well as the old one. I'm excited about what the future may bring.

(And I' welcome your thoughts, comments, questions, and suggestions, as always.)